New user questions

Walter Dnes wrote:

I'm running PostgreSQL 8.0.3, the latest stable ebuild, on Gentoo linux.

1) Am I inviting any problems in linux by moving the directory
/var/lib/postgresql to /home/postgresql, and then symlinking
/home/postgresql back to /var/lib/postgresql? The reason for this is
to avoid having databases, indexes, etc, physically ending up on my
/dev/sda1 partition, which I want to reserve for the OS only.

No. But I would rather do an initdb to a different location and edit
your init.d script, but this is a personal choice and I have trouble
deciding which is better or why :-)

2) Although I have an AMD64 cpu. I chickened out and went for a 32-bit
install. If/when I do migrate to 64-bit, can I keep my databases, or
will I have to export/import them?

I don't know how architecture-specific the data format might be as it is
written to disk, in particular how alignment might be affected. To be
safe, plan on an export/import and take a dump of your cluster before
you do the upgrade :-)

3) Are there any free sample datasets and tutorials for users who are
familiar with SQL and Oracle PL/SQL? I have no DBA experience, but I do
write quite a few read-only Oracle SQL queries and PL/SQL programs at
work, even though I'm not a CS. An Oracle-to-PostgreSQL comparison
would be nice to see.

Take a look at the online docs. The tutorial is aimed mostly at SQL
newbies, but there are sections on migrating from Oracle.

Best Wishes,
Chris Travers
Metatron Technology Consulting

Walter Dnes wrote:

2) Although I have an AMD64 cpu. I chickened out and went for a
32-bit install. If/when I do migrate to 64-bit, can I keep my
databases, or will I have to export/import them?

The latter.

--
Peter Eisentraut
http://developer.postgresql.org/~petere/